The handling of the bent pipes is a problem here. For each bending operation, the pipe to be bent has to be clamped at the straight end thereof in a feed carriage while a bending lock is fastened to the end to be bent. An annular apparatus for inductive heating, customarily also referred to as an induction ring, is located between the bending lock and feed carriage. Said induction ring has to be removed in a complicated manner for all reclamping and loading operations, and then re-installed and aligned since, otherwise, there would be the risk of pipes swinging during transportation being damaged. This generally means a considerably delay in the bending operations, this delay placing a crucial limit on the turnover of a pipe bending machine.